Sandy wrote:
Yes and no. I know I'd rather be on parole than in the slammer. (Of course, given the choice I'd go for "none of the above.") I have an acquaintance who just got out after being in for seven years. Even though she is required to live in a half-way house, cannot go anywhere but work nor may visit anyone without express permission of her parole officer, she's very happy to at least be out in the world and not locked up.
The problem is not that parole exists--be thankful that it does. The problem is the criminalization of every area of life.
If everyone refused plea bargaining, and refused parole, the number of people who could be prosecuted and jailed would be a small fraction of those who are "in the system" today. Of course, no specific individual is going to volunteer to be Bubba's Bitch on principle, so the effect is that an unlimited number of people can be kept "in the system" at a cost asymptotically approaching zero as increasingly advanced monitoring technology gets mass produced. Since the only pretense a democracy can use for taking someones rights away is that they have been convicted of a crime, enough laws are made until everyone is guilty of something, and then they are selectively enforced. The first time someone annoys Big Brother, they are placed "in the system" and lose their right to be secure in their person and possessions, keep private journals, vote, work where they want, travel, own a firearm, and at no great cost to Big Brother either. "Parole" is the lubricant which makes this "democracy in name only" work effectively, and as Tim suggested, is a great force multiplier for oppressive governmental authority. Through plea bargaining, the sheep volunteer to be shorn, at no cost to Big Brother, and through parole, they voluntarily live with shorter chains and in smaller cages, for the privilege of a less painful hair removal process than sheep who protest. "Be thankful that parole exists" is not the way I would describe the above system. One should also bear in mind that in a system without parole, the government probably couldn't afford to make unimportant things illegal without bankrupting the taxpayers in the process, thus repairing your problem with the "criminalization of everyday life." It's not like Joe Sixpack is going to give up his Beernuts so we can give persons 10 year prison sentences for writing rude words in their diaries. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"